SFU
MEMORANDUM
()FFICE OF IIII- VICE-PRESIDI N I, ACADKMIC AND l'R( )\'( )ST
University Drive, Burnaby, BC
Canada V5A 1S6
TEL: 778.782.3925
FAX: 778.782.5876
S.13-25
www.sfu.ca/vpacademic
attention
Senate
date
January 16,2013
from
Jon Driver,Vice-President, Academic and
pages
1/1
Provost, and Chair, SCUP
Beedie School of Business: Full Program Proposal for a Certificate in Business Analytics and
Decision Making (SCUP 13-04)
RE:
At itsJanuary 9, 2013 meeting SCUP reviewed and approved the Full Program Proposal for a Certificate
in Business Analytics and Decision Making within the Beedie School
of Business, effective Fall 2013.
Motion:
That Senate approve and recommend to the Board of Covernors the Full Program Proposal for a
Certificate in Business Analytics and Decision Making within the Beedie School
of Business, effective
Fall 2013.
end.
c: A. Gemino
SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY
ENGAGING THE WORLD
SFU
MEMORANDUM
ATTENTION
FROM
RE:
SCUP 13-04
OFFICE OF THE ASSOCIATE VICE-PRESIDENT, ACADEMIC AND
ASSOCIATE PROVOST
8888 University Drive,
TEL: 778.782.4636
avpcioOsfu.ca
Burnaby, BC
www.sfu.ca/vpacademic
Canada V5A1S6
Senate Committee on University
Priorities
Gordon Myers, Chair
Senate Committee on Undergraduate
Studies
Beedie School of Business (SCUS 12-51
date
December 7, 2012
PAGES
1/1
Action undertaken by the Senate Committee on Undergraduate Studies at its meeting of
December 6, 2012, gives rise to the following recommendations:
Motion:
That SCUP approve and recommend to Senate the Full Program Proposal for the
Certificate in Business Analytics and Decision Making within the Beedie School of
Business.
The relevant documentation for review by SCUP is attached.
SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY
ENGAGING THE WORLD
Program Proposal
Certificate in Business Analytics and Decision Making (BADM)
Beedie School of Business
Simon Fraser University
Fall 2013
Executive Summary
The Beedie School of Business seeks permission to offer a
Certificate in Business
Analytics and Decision Making
for undergraduate business students.
The proposed
certificate will be earned through a combination of courses currently offered in different
"concentrations" of the undergraduate business program plus a new project-based
experiential capstone course.
"Business Analytics" is an emerging term that describes the use of large amounts
of data and advanced computational techniques to inform complex decisions.
The
diverse academic disciplines that form the foundation of Business Analytics include
Statistics, Data Management, Data Mining, and Decision Theory. Although the term
Business Analytics suggests an emphasis on business-specific problems, the underlying
"evidence-based" approach is generic. Business Analytics has been applied in many non
business decision contexts including environmental policy development and public health.
As in many business schools, the tools and techniques that comprise Business
Analytics are taught within the established concentrations of the Beedie undergraduate
program. Few students, including those who elect multiple concentrations, currently
have the opportunity to develop proficiency in the entire range of Business Analytics
activities such as multidimensional data modeling, statistical inference, and stochastic
optimization. However, recent improvements in the usability of the sophisticated tools
used for Business Analytics have reduced the requirement for strict specialization. The
availability of powerful-but-accessible tools makes it feasible for students to develop
broad competencies in domains that were previously restricted to technical specialists.
The objective ofthe proposed certificate is thus to provide undergraduate business
students with a means to develop practical skills in analytics and evidence-based decision
making without impacting their ability to focus within a conventional area of
concentration. Students who earn the Certificate in Business Analytics and Decision
Making will be better equipped to meet the increasing complexity of decision making in
business, government, and the not-for-profit sector. Moreover, as a beneficial side effect,
students who earn the certificate will leave SFU with a credential that is both rare and
valuable.
1. Credential to be awarded, including the level and category of the degree and the
specific discipline or field of study;
Certificate in Business Analytics and Decision Making, Bachelor of Business
Administration program.
2. Location of program, including justification for program site
SFU, Burnaby campus
3. Faculty(ies), Department(s), or School(s) offering the certificate;
The Beedie School of Business
4. Anticipated program start date
Fall 2013
5. Description of proposed program
a) Aims, goals and/or objectives
The objective of the proposed certificate is to provide students with a
comprehensive and multi-disciplinary overview of evidence-based decision
making within the well-established structure of a conventional undergraduate
business program. The certificate program will combine rigorous academic study
of advanced analytical theory with significant exposure to complex, real-world
problems and hands-on experience with sophisticated software.
The development of specialized skills and knowledge in decision making will
help make those who earn the SFU Certificate in Business Analytics and Decision
Making students better leaders and managers.
b) Anticipated contribution to the mandate and strategic plan of the institution
The proposed certificate in Business Analytics and Decision Making is an
innovative, demand-driven initiative that brings students, faculty, and practicing
decision makers together to address complex decision problems. In this way, the
certificate can contribute to several strategic objectives of SFU, specifically:
responding to students' needs, putting students on the cutting-edge
of
technological development, and providing meaningful opportunities for
university-community engagement. Each
of these contributions is described
below in terms of the
President's Agenda 2010/11:
1. A University of Choice for Undergraduate Students (Theme 1: High
Quality Student Experience): Business Analytics is a field of both intense
employer interest and stimulating intellectual challenge. At its core, it
deals with important theoretical issues, such as the nature of knowledge
and the problem of induction; however, the approach and methods
advocated in Business Analytics are seen to deliver enormous practical
value. By developing innovative and challenging programs that create
significant economic opportunities for its graduates, SFU can demonstrate
its responsiveness to the needs of its students.
2. Teaching, Research, Engagement - A Truly Comprehensive University
(Theme 2: Teachingand Learning in a ResearchUniversity): The Business
Analytics and Decision Making fields possess well established theoretical
foundations and are supported by mature technological tools. At the same
time, both analytics and decision-making are fertile areas for research and
innovation. For example, some of the best tools for data manipulation,
visualization, statistical analysis, and data mining are university-based
open source. These open sourcetools provide opportunities for so-called
"open innovation" by anyone with ideas—practitioners, faculty, or
students.
3. A National Model of University-Community Engagement: A key element
of the proposed certificate is the experiential capstone, which will require
students to tackle difficult real-world projects from sponsor organizations
within the community. Although such student engagements are normally
small in scale and typically (though not always) limited in impact, they
provide a means for the university to push new ideas and techniques out
into the community. The pace at which many of these ideas and
techniques have evolved mean that, in many cases, students have much to
offer practicing decision makers.
c) Target audience
The target audience is undergraduate business students in any of the conventional
concentrations who would like to supplement their functional concentration with a
better understanding of Business Analytics and Decision Making.
d) Content and summary of requirements for graduation
Course Requirements
The Certificate in Business Analytics and Decision Making consists
of nine
courses (31 course units), as shown in the figure below.
Of these 31 units, 8 units
from Data
and Decisions I (Bus 232) and Data and Decisions II (Bus 336) form
the "Statistic core" of the certificate. These two courses also form part ofthe core
requirement for all undergraduate business students
us 336 (4): Data and Decisions II
Bus 362 (4): Business Process Analysis and System Design
Bus 464
Data
Managemei
Bus 462: Business Intelligence
Bus 439: Advanced Decision Making
Decision
Analysis
Data and
Statistics
core
Analytics
Of the remaining 23 credits, some may count towards a students' concentration.
For example, Business Process Analysis and System Design (Bus 362), Business
Intelligence (Bus 462) and Data Management (Bus 464) can be used to satisfy the
requirements of the Management Information System (MIS) concentration. Other
courses can be used to satisfy upper-division requirements
of the Marketing and
Technology and Operations Management concentrations. In general, however,
completion
of the Certificate in Business Analytics and Decision Making will
require students to take additional course outside of their concentration. Indeed,
this is one of the fundamental objectives of the certificate: to encourage students
to improve their decision making knowledge by taking a set of interrelated
courses from different concentrations. In most cases, completion of the certificate
will require an additional four or five courses outside of the student'sarea of
concentration.
The capstone course, Advanced Decision Making, (labeled Bus 439 above) is a
new course for students enrolled in the Business Analytics and Decision Making
certificate. The purpose of the course is to provide a structured environment for
the completion of a major decision making project. Students will be required to
work together in small teams on projects within the community.
One of the
expectations of the Business Advisory Board is that their firms will provide small
project opportunities for the capstone course. Class time will be split between
''consultingpractices" material and small group sessions with the instructor to
address specific challenges arising in the projects.
Relationship to the Business Technology Management Certificate
The Beedie School of Business recently received approval for an undergraduate
certificate in Business Technology Management (BTM). The BTM and Business
Analytics certificates are very different programs in response to different external
requirements.
The BTM certificate was the Beedie School of Business's response to the call
from the Canadian Coalition for Tomorrow's Information, Communication, and
Technology Skills (CCICT) for a standardized Information, Communication, and
Technology (ICT) curriculum acrossCanada. The purpose ofthe BTM
curriculum is to develop the next generation of leaders and managers in the
information technology field. This dual managerial and technical focus means
that the learning objectives identified by CCICT entail more course credits than
are currently required for the Management Information Systems (MIS)
concentration. The Beedie School of Business's BTM certificate provides
students with the means and incentive to fulfill the requirements ofthe Canada-
wide BTM curriculum.
Like the BTM certificate, the proposed certificate in Business Analytics and
Decision Making also involves intensive use
of information technology.
However, the objective ofthe Business Analytics certificate is to develop deep
technical skill in a specific ICT-enabled discipline: evidence-based decision
making. Accordingly, the proposed curriculum for the Business Analytics and
Decision Making certificate cuts across the traditional functional boundaries
within the business school.
The differences between the two certificates can be illustrated graphically. The
first figure shows the course requirements for the BTM certificate. The courses
consist
ofthe entire MIS concentration plus closely related courses in leadership,
innovation, and design (mandatory core course are shown in a different color).
Leadership
and
Management
Innovation
Project
Management
Leadership
Management
Information
Systems
Introduction
to IS
Business
Process
Data and
Databases
Business
Intelligence
Networks and
Web-Enabled
Business
Managing IT
i^V
Marketing
Technology
and
Operations
Management
V_
The second figure shows the course requirements for the proposed Business
Analytics certificate. The Business Analytics certificate combines data
management courses from the MIS concentration, data analysis courses from the
Marketing concentration, and decision-making courses from the Technology and
Operations Management concentration.
Leadership
Management
and
Information
Management
Analytics
Capstone
Project
Systems
Introduction
to IS
Business
Process
Data and
Databases
Business
Intelligence
W
V
Marketing
Market
Research
Consumer
Analytics
Technology
and
Operations
Management
Data and
Decisions 1 &
2
Decision
Analysis
Breadth. Writing, and Quantitative Requirements
The proposed Certificate in Business Analytics and Decision Making will be
offered as a supplement to the conventional concentration within the Beedie
School
of Business undergraduate program. As such, all certificate students will
satisfy SFlFs breadth, writing, and quantitative requirements as part of their
normal concentration requirements.
Co-Operative Education and the Experiential Component
Experiential learning is an important part of the proposed certificate and the
project-based capstone course (denoted Bus 439 above) is a central part
of the
program. However, the analytics-specific capstone project and opportunities for
co-operative education should be seen as independent. Participation in co
operative education program is an option for any qualified student in the Beedie
School
of Business and is generally encouraged. However, participation in the
co-op program is not a requirement for the proposed certificate.
e)
Deliver}' method
Since the program is based upon existing courses and programs, the standard
delivery methods already in place for on-campus education will be used. The
experiential component requirements will be met by through the semester long
capstone course in which students tackle a challenging real-world decision
problem under the supervision of the course coordinator.
f) Linkages between the learning outcomes and the curriculum design, including an
indication whether a work experience/work place term is required for degree
completion.
A design committee consisting of faculty from multiple disciplines plus several
adjunct faculty with experience in the analytics field identified several critical
learning outcomes for a certificate in Business Analysis and Decision Making.
The sources of these learning outcomes include:
1. The steps in well-established normative process models of decision
making (e.g., Dewey, Simon).
2. Examination of the curricula of other graduate and undergraduate
programs in Business Analytics.
3. Examination of the training curricula of major analytics tool venders (e.g.,
IBM, SAS, Microsoft).
4. Discussions with business organizations in the Vancouver area with
experience with Business Analytics.
The courses outlined above are the result of an explicit mapping process from
critical learning outcomes to existing courses. In some cases, minor gaps were
identified that could be filled with small changes to existing course material.
In the case of the experiential learning component, a new project-based analytics
capstone course (Bus 439 above) was added.
g)
Distinctive characteristics
Although we expect the supply of programs in Business Analytics to increase in
response to well publicized demand, there are currently relatively few programs
of this type. Of the programs we know about in early 2012, the proposed
Certificate in Business Analytics and Decision Making is distinctive in the
following ways:
1.
Undergraduate:
Many of the best known and established specialty programs in
Business Analytics are at the graduate level, (e.g., the Masters of Science in
Analytics at North Carolina State University, Bentley MBA with Analytics focus).
2.
Rigorous, focused, and comprehensive:
The courses outlined above provide the
proposed certificate with significant breadth and depth relative to other programs.
For example, the "Managerial Analytics Certificate" offered by the Kellogg
School of Management requires only four courses and only one of these
("Empirical Methods") is specific to the practice of Business Analytics.
3.
Decision-focused:
Some program in analytics (e.g., the MSA at NC State and
SFU's graduate program in Bioinformatics) focus on advanced analytical
techniques. Although such a technical emphasis is appropriate for analytical
specialists, the focus of the proposed certificate is on decision makers and the
advantages
of evidence-based decision making. As a result, the focus of the
program is broader and the potential pool of candidates is larger (due to the lack
of highly specialized prerequisites).
8
h) Anticipated completion time in years or semesters
As noted above, students who currently elect a single concentration in Marketing,
Technology and Operations Management (TOM), or Management Information
Systems(MIS) should expectto take four additional semestercourses (including
the project-based analytics capstone, Bus 439). Studentswho elect to take two
concentrations (e.g., Marketingand MIS) may require only one additional course
plus the project-based capstone.
i) Enrolment plan for the length of the program
Participating undergraduate studentswill have Business attached to their program
plan, either through a major, joint major, or honors.
j) Policies on student evaluation
Per general regulations of the University, and the Beedie School ofBusiness.
k) Policies on faculty appointments (minimum qualifications)
Continuing faculty will hold a PhD or equivalent.
1) Policies on program assessment
All academic units at SFU are subject to external review every seven years.
AACSB and EQUIS accreditation require additional assessment
ofassurance of
learning, community involvement, and attainment of mission every 5 years.
m) Level of support and recognition from other post-secondary institutions,
(including plans for admissions and transfer within the British Columbia post-
secondary education system) and relevant regulatory or professional bodies, where
applicable.
This certificate is optional for any student already accepted into the Beedie School
of Business.
n) Evidence of student interest and labour market demand
There will be a shortage oftalent necessaryfor organizations to take
advantage ofbig data. By 2018, the UnitedStates alone couldface a
shortage of140,000 to 190,000people with deep analytical skills as well
as 1.5 million managers and analysts with the know-how to use the
analysis ofbig data to make effective decisions.
McKinsey Global Institute1
May 2011
Recent bestsellers, such as
Competing onAnalytics
and
Supercrunchers,
assert that decision makers are increasingly expected to support their
decisions with rigorous empirical analysis. A recent McKinsey study
(cited above) outlines how the increased use of "big data" and analytics
will "underpin new waves of productivity growth and consumer surplus".
However, the same study points to an emerging skills shortage.
The Beedie School of Business conducted in-depth interviews in 2009
with organizations in the Vancouver area with experience with and interest
in Business Analytics. These organizations include ICBC, Worksafe BC,
Telus, RBC, Angus Reid Strategies, the Market Research and Intelligence
Association, the Beedie School of Business Career Management Centre,
SAP Business Objects (tool vendor), and SAS (tool vendor).
The interviewees expressed strong support for an SFU program in
Business Analytics that combined rigor with a broader set
of decision
making and communication skills. A follow-on survey of individuals
involved in analytics in a range of industries and geographic locations was
administered by Angus Reid Strategies on behalf of SFU. Of the 75
respondents to the question, "Would you hire graduates from existing
university analytics program?" just over half responded "likely" or "very
likely".
o)
Summary of resources required and available to implement the program
The bulk of the courses required for the certificate already exist and are offered
regularly. The one exception is the capstone course, which is a new course and
will require one full course credit for teaching, administration, and project
marking.
p) Brief description of any program and associated resources that will be reduced
or eliminated when the new program is introduced (if applicable)
None
q) List of faculty members teaching/supervising, what percentage of their teaching
will be devoted to the program, and their areas of specialization
"Big data:The next frontier for innovation, competition, and productivity," McKinsey Global Institute,
http://www.mckinsey.com/Insights/MGI/Research/Technology_and_Innovation/Big_data_The_next_fronti
er_for_innovation
10
Current faculty in the Beedie School of Business who will teach courses in this
Certificate include (but are not limited to):
Michael Brydon, Associate Professor, Management Information Systems
Payman Jula, Assistant Professor, Technology and Operations Management
Robert Krider, Professor, Marketing
Jason Ho, Associate Professor, Marketing
Nilesh Saraf, Associate Professor, Management Information Systems
Peter Tingling, Assistant Professor, Management Information Systems
r) For a program where the intention is to charge a premium fee, a budget
developed in collaboration with the dean of the faculty
Not applicable - not a program. No change in existing fees.
s)
Related programs in your own or other British Columbia post-secondary
institutions.
None as ofJanuary, 2012
6. Contact information of the institutional contact person in case more information
Dr. Andrew Gemino, Associate Dean, Undergraduate,
Beedie School of Business, 778 782 3653
gemino@sfu.ca
7.
In addition, attach the documentation used for internal approval; alternatively,
provide a link to a website where this information is available. Normally, the
Senate materials describing the FPP may be used for this purpose and will be
provided by the office of the AVPA to the DQAB.
In the May 22,2012 UCC meeting, the UCC committee members from the
Beedie School of Business, passed a motion of creating a Certificate Business
Analytics and Decision Making. Minutes
of the meeting are securely located on
the Beedie School of Business website.
SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS:
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